Step by Step Solution to Finding Love in the Apocalypse
by 2olluxampora
Summary: Being one of the few immune individuals in a world dying of a mysterious plague can be pretty damn hard, especially when you're alone. But if you're lucky enough to find someone, or multiple someones, who you can't help but fall in love with? That might make it a lot easier.
1. Find Someone You Have History With

_2 to 3 percent of the population is naturally immune to the virus. 2 to 3 percent of the population is naturally immune to the virus. 2 to 3 percent of the population is naturally immune to the virus._ He just had to keep telling himself that. He was immune. He had to be. Almost his whole neighborhood had been dead or dying when he'd gotten the nerve to pack supplies and ditch his house, so he must've been exposed at some point. Exposure without getting sick meant immunity.

Sollux was sitting curled up in the corner of the computer lab at his high school. Former high school now, he supposed. He'd just been a month away from graduation when the schools had closed to prevent spreading of the virus. Now it seemed pretty damn unlikely that things would calm down enough for something like him getting his diploma to matter. No disease had even been close to this devastating since the Black Death in the 1300s, and even that had spared portions of the world.

He'd been alone for about a month, he figured. He hadn't been keeping precise track of the days, and it was difficult when they were all more or less the same. The school had a pretty sizable stock of food, a lot of which didn't need to be cooked, as well as several cases of bottled water, iced tea, and so on. Between that and the computer lab filled with laptops whose lingering battery charge he could carefully ration, there were definitely worse places he could be.

Sollux sighed softly, running his fingers through his hair and taking a sip of his water. He was a relatively solitary person, but he was really missing some human interaction. What if he was the only one left around here?

As if in answer to his mental question, he heard footsteps in the hallway. Gentle, surefooted thuds, not the weak stumbling of the dying. Another immune, then, like him. He got to his feet, taking hold of the wickedly sharp, serrated kitchen knife he'd found. It wasn't a weapon made for combat, but it was better than nothing if this person turned out to be violent.

The hand not holding the knife shook slightly on the doorknob, and he wondered if it might be better to just go back to his cozy corner and hope this person didn't think the computer lab warranted investigation. But he knew he couldn't do that. Not when there was a chance he could get an ally out of this.

He steadied his shaky hand and opened the door, quietly stepping out into the hallway. The figure was turned the other way at first, so Sollux had a moment to inspect it. Taller than him, and more athletic looking. Expensive-looking clothes, and a gun tucked in their pants. Overall, someone he really didn't want to have to fight with his dumb kitchen knife. Sollux didn't have a chance to make any more observations before they turned to face him.

Neither of them said anything for a long few moments, just staring at each other. They weren't friends or anything, not even really acquaintances. The amount of people in their grade was just sizable enough to make it possible for the top two students not to know each other. It wasn't like who was valedictorian mattered anymore, but all through high school, he'd known that it'd be between him and some guy named Eridan Ampora. He'd been pointed out to Sollux a few times, no big deal.

There was that one time junior year too, but Sollux didn't want to think about that. Couldn't think about it now, when Eridan was staring at him, had a gun, and knew exactly what one of his biggest weaknesses was.

He bit his lip, hand getting shaky again. This time the one holding the knife. Not good. Sollux took one tiny step back towards his computer lab, watching carefully for a sign Eridan was going to reach for his gun.

"Sollux..." Eridan's tone was hesitant, the sort you might use when talking to a feral animal. He was just as scared, then.

"Eridan..." He replied just as hesitantly, not at all sure what to do.

"I didn't think anyone else would be here," Eridan finally said. "I don't even know why I came here, really. Just needed some sort of familiar place, I guess."

"Yeah. Me too, I guess." What else could he say? "And there's a lot of computers here, so...I just wanted to be around them." Ugh, that sounded so stupid. But Eridan was acting different too, going by what he'd seen of him over the years. Maybe they were both just that desperate for someone to talk to.

"Would you mind some company? I've been doin' fine on my own, but who knows how many people there are around here...And we kinda know each other already, so..." Eridan shrugged, moving a little closer.

"You want to team up or something?" Sollux raised an eyebrow, more than a little surprised by the offer. It was all he could do not to ask how long. Eridan seemed to figure that part of the question out anyway though.

"Yeah. Indefinitely. For however long you feel like putting up with me. I figured in this situation, it's probably better to have someone with you."

He had no reason to trust him, or to trust anything he said. That one encounter aside, he didn't know Eridan. He could be tricking him. But he certainly seemed genuine...

Sollux wasn't able to carefully consider the pros and cons very long. Even if it was a terrible idea, he'd probably say yes, no matter how much he might like to pretend otherwise.

"Okay, if you really want to spend your days with a dysfunctional computer geek, I'm not gonna stop you. You can be my friend or whatever." And with that, Sollux stepped back into the dim computer lab, wasting no time in getting comfy where he was sitting before.

Eridan followed, sitting next to him and carefully taking a half-stale dinner roll out of the bag in front of him. The school's food offerings had been much better a month ago. After a moment of consideration, Sollux offered him half his blanket. Even in the summer, this part of the school could get a little chilly.

He had a small stack of textbooks off to the side, mostly science and programming. Even if they weren't very exciting, they were something to read. Sollux had one on his lap, skimming through it. Maybe random science knowledge would come in handy in this world.

"We both know I kicked your ass in Chem," Eridan teased when he noticed what Sollux was reading.

"Just like we both know you pretended to be a science wizard the whole year," Sollux retorted, a slight smirk on his face. They hadn't been in the same Chemistry class, but pretty much the whole school knew about that.

Eridan rolled his eyes, scooting a little closer, both for more effective blanket sharing and so he could read over Sollux's shoulder.

"Magic is fake as shit, Sol. Everyone knows that, including me."

"I never said you didn't."

"Whatever."

Once again, they lapsed into silence, both going back to reading the Chemistry textbook. There were plenty of other books sitting there, but Eridan chose to keep reading over Sollux's shoulder.

Sollux lost track of how long that went on, but when he woke up some time later, the textbook was still half on his lap, and Eridan's head was resting on his shoulder, their fingers just barely touching, like they'd moved towards holding hands in their sleep. Odd, considering they hardly knew each other, but comforting.

He just watched Eridan sleep for awhile, glancing down to notice that even now, the Aquarius had all sorts of sparkly gold and violet rings on his fingers. Flaunting his wealth even in the apocalypse.

Before long, Eridan woke up, blinking sleepily. He yawned, picking his head up from Sollux's shoulder.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked, clearly a little disoriented. Sollux had gotten used to not always knowing what time or even what day it was, but apparently Eridan hadn't, wherever he'd been until now.

"I don't know. There's no windows in this room, and the clock batteries died about a week ago," he replied, letting their fingers brush again.

"You've been holed up in here over a week?" Eridan sounded surprised, like that possibility hadn't even occurred to him.

"Yeah, probably about a month by now. When everyone in my neighborhood got sick, I walked here, since I didn't know where else to go. My family was away when it started getting bad, so they couldn't make it back. And I haven't had a reason to leave here since, so I haven't." He shrugged.

"I was at home up until yesterday," Eridan finally said. "We were pretty much set for awhile with food and a generator and everything. It all kinda went to shit when my dad got sick...I tried to take care of him for awhile, figuring I'd get it too before long. But I haven't. Yesterday I couldn't do it anymore. I just...left."

Sollux nodded in understanding. He doubted anyone could bear to take care of someone in that condition for long, especially a loved one.

"I was planning on going back in a couple of days...to finish taking care of things. You don't have to come with me for that, but I feel like it's something I need to do." Eridan's fingers interlocked more securely with Sollux's. "He deserves a proper burial, and I need to gather up some things, so..."

Again, Sollux wasn't quite sure what to say. He'd never exactly been taught what to say to someone who was waiting for their father to die before going back.

"No, I'll go with you. We're a team now, right?" He gently squeezed Eridan's hand, offering him a half smile. "We'll do it together."

"Thanks, Sol." Eridan squeezed back, still pressed close to him under the blanket.

"No problem," he said, staring down at the blanket, tracing the stitches at the hem of it with his fingertip. This was all artificial closeness, created from needing to share a blanket, or both of them reading the same book. He couldn't let himself think Eridan truly cared for him all that much, because that couldn't possibly be true.

"Anyway, uh, we should probably have some kind of plan. We can't just stay here indefinitely like a couple of fuckin' idiots who can't be bothered to think anything through," Eridan said suddenly, eyes glowing with a clear need to talk about concrete logistics instead of emotions.

"Well, yeah, no shit. The supplies here aren't going to last forever, and there's a lot of other things we still need. Plus, this building isn't something we could easily secure or heat or anything like that..." Sollux chewed thoughtfully at his lower lip, trying to remember all the things they'd have to keep in mind from now on.

"We need something smaller," Eridan agreed. "A house would be best, out of the way of any potential looters. Supplies, I'm sure we can find around town. There's hardly anyone left to take them."

"So we'll just...look for a decent house and whatever supplies we can find? I guess that works for now, but eventually we're gonna need a longer-term plan than that. Supplies run out, ED." Sollux hardly even noticed the affectionate term he used, too caught up in his thoughts.

"Obviously. I know that. But don't you think it's better to focus on right now first? We don't even know if we'll live that long."

The silence dragged on until Eridan finally continued.

"We'll talk about it after we take care of things at my house, okay?"

"You were the one who was so insistent on talking about a plan right now, but okay. We'll wait."

The mood was tense after that little discussion, and there was only minimal conversation for the majority of the day in between brief snacks and pacing around the room. Not exciting by any means, that was for sure. Sollux was fed up with such boring days, but he knew that he should be savoring it now, since things could be very different outside the walls of the school.

When it started getting late, the insignificant little argument faded away, and they got comfortable with all the pillows and blankets Sollux had stashed in the room. Unlike the night before, when they'd accidentally fallen asleep close together, they laid down next to each other, cuddling up close.

"I still think about that time..." Eridan said quietly.

"Yeah, I do too." Sollux pressed closer, resting his head against Eridan's chest.

"I'm glad I was right."

"I think I am too."


	2. Add a Grumpy Third Wheel

**Sykes Penchant: I haven't quite decided on all the details, but no, it's not a zombie virus. I'm thinking something similar to the nodding virus in Will McIntosh's short stories from the Apocalypse Triptych, so basically something that paralyzes/completely disables the victims but is something they could theoretically survive with 24 hour care. The issue is that nearly everyone got it, so it's not possible or even preferable to try to keep them alive in such a horrible state.**

 **ThyRoyalAwesomeness: Nope, definitely not a oneshot! I'll be writing for this until I run out of ideas, which hopefully won't be for a long time :)**

* * *

When he woke up in the morning a few days later, Sollux felt more confused than he had in quite awhile. It had been a couple of days since Eridan first arrived, and it had all felt a little surreal since then. Like both of them were pushing invisible boundaries, seeing if they pressed a little closer, or held the other's hand a little longer, things would snap back to reality.

It wasn't normal to start acting all affectionate like this with someone you weren't close to, especially with neither person even mentioning it, right? It wasn't normal to act like it was normal. And yet, he didn't want to stop. The memories probably didn't help matters. Remembering how soothing and kind Eridan had been then made him want more of the nice Eridan now. Everything was so unstable with the collapse of society and all, so he wanted something soothing and reliable.. That made sense.

Sollux was just thinking in circles, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't even fully sure of his own feelings or actions, much less Eridan's. What he did know, however, was that he didn't think he could bear to be without him again. Being alone wasn't all that bad at the time, but the contrast made him realize how lonely he'd truly been. Eridan wouldn't leave him though, right? Right. He had no reason to. He wouldn't leave him. He promised.

He sighed softly, curling a little closer to Eridan. The floor wasn't a comfortable place to sleep, but he'd gotten used to it, and it was especially nice when he could rest his head on Eridan's shoulder or chest, listening to his heartbeat.

Eridan shifted in his sleep and held Sollux closer, glasses starting to fall off his face. He always seemed to sleep deeper and longer than Sollux, who was lucky to get four or five restless hours a night. Before too long though, Eridan yawned quietly and opened his eyes, grip on Sollux's waist loosening.

"Mornin', Sol," he murmured, taking his glasses off momentarily to rub at his eyes. Sollux had gotten used to the nickname, and always called Eridan 'ED' in turn, not even mentally questioning the familiarity anymore.

"Yeah, morning, lazy," he teased, a smirk playing at his lips. "I've been awake for almost an hour already."

Eridan frowned at that, sitting up a little.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" he asked, fingers brushing through Sollux's hair.

"A little. Not much less than usual. Don't worry. I'm sleeping better now than I was before you were with me." Sollux sat up as well, stretching a little and leaning back against Eridan. It was probably only a matter of time before they'd start kissing and acting like that was normal too, he thought.

"Alright, alright...If you say so."

"I do. I'm fine. I've never slept all that much." He shrugged, looking over at him. "Anyway...today's the day, huh?" Sollux felt bad having to talk about it so much, when it must be so hard for Eridan to even think about.

"Yeah,, today's the day," Eridan sighed. "Getting rid of the rest of my old life. My dad, my home...All gone."

"I'm sorry," Sollux offered weakly, not sure how he was supposed to comfort Eridan.

"It's alright. Fuck it. That me was pathetic anyway. Maybe this me will actually be good for something." Eridan nodded, biting his lip.

"What, goodbye spoiled rich boy Eridan and hello survivalist Eridan?" Maybe trying to crack jokes would be best. There weren't a whole lot of genuinely funny things to laugh at anymore.

"Something like that." Eridan forced a small smile, absently toying with one of his rings, spinning it around and around on his finger.

"Hey, it'll be fine, eventually, maybe," Sollux offered. "And maybe it won't be, but at least we'll suffer through whatever shit life has in store together, right?"

"You need to get better at comforting people," Eridan replied, rolling his eyes. "You're just as pessimistic as me, so it doesn't really work."

"At least I'm honest. Shitty honesty is better than fake optimism."

"I suppose you're right," Eridan agreed.

"I'm always right. Now, we should probably start getting ready..." Neither of them knew exactly what they'd be facing outside, but it'd probably be a lot of boring nothing. Corpses, maybe a wild animal or two...Nothingness.

"Yeah, we should just get it over with. No point in sitting around thinking about it."

Sollux slowly got up, stretching again once he was standing. They'd already packed some supplies just in case; food, water, first aid materials, and of course they'd each have a weapon. The plan was to spend the night at Eridan's house and then decide what to do. As they'd already discussed, they couldn't live in the school indefinitely, but they weren't sure where that more permanent home would be yet.

As soon as Eridan stood up, he grabbed one of the backpacks, folding up a blanket to add to it before slinging it over his shoulders.

"Oh, you want to go now?" Sollux furrowed his brow, utterly confused. "I thought we'd at least have breakfast first."

"I want to go now. No breakfast. Let's just do it," Eridan's voice was firm, but Sollux doubted he was really that confident about it.

"Okay, ED, if that's what you want." Sollux added a blanket to his own bag and picked it up, glancing around the room. The essentials were all packed; the rest would be left behind to gather dust like the rest of the school.

Checking weapons, taking a last look around...it all only took a few moments. Then Eridan was opening the door, and they were stepping out into the hall, walking towards the exit.

Right outside the front doors, Sollux saw the first body. At first, he just stared blankly, frozen on the edge of the bottom step. Then, when he noticed the flies, he wound up retching into the grass, Eridan's hand resting at his lower back.

"You're gonna have to get used to seeing them. The bodies, I mean," Eridan said. "They're everywhere."

Grimacing, Sollux glanced up at him, an irritated expression on his face.

"I know. I just wasn't expecting one right here. You don't have to treat me like someone who can't handle this stuff." He straightened up, starting down the sidewalk, away from the school.

Eridan wasted no time in following him, catching up easily and taking his hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"It's just...I've been out here more recently than you. A month ago, it was bad, yeah, but not this bad. More people were alive a month ago."

"I don't want you to see me as weak," Sollux said. "You know some shit about me, but I don't want that to make you see me as weak."

"I don't. I wouldn't."

"Good."

It was a slow, boring trek towards Eridan's fancy neighborhood, avoiding all sorts of debris. Sollux became convinced that they wouldn't see a single other living person. That maybe there were no other living people in town. Then, he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.

Judging by Eridan's tight grip on his hand, he'd seen it too. A very slight movement, and a hint of what looked like a torn black sweater, exposing the tan skin underneath. A real, live person.

"Careful, Sol," Eridan whispered as they crept closer.

There was no adrenaline-fueled confrontation, no weapons pulled out. They just stared at each other; Eridan and Sollux on one side, and this person on the other, both openly staring.

"What, are you just gonna gawk at me like a couple of brain-dead fuckpods?" The stranger's voice was rough and a little raspy, like he hadn't had reason to use it in awhile. It certainly broke the silence though.

"I guess that depends on if you're gonna keep acting like a scared zoo animal," Sollux retorted automatically.

"Oh, you think I'm scared, huh? At least I'm not cowering behind my boyfriend for protection."

Finally, Eridan interjected, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet with impatience.

"Yeah, yeah, you're both a couple a pansies, now can we get going, Sol? Uh, you too, I guess, if you want," he said as an afterthought, gesturing towards the other boy.

"Karkat Vantas," he said by way of introduction. "I'm a little surprised you'd offer a spot in your group to a stranger so fucking quickly, and honestly, you both seem pretty pathetic, but I'll take you up on it."

"Right...I'd argue that, but that'd just delay us further. Eridan Ampora." Eridan kept walking, squeezing Sollux's hand. Karkat followed.

"Sollux Captor," Sollux said, glancing back at Karkat. "Welcome to our dysfunctional...whatever this is."

Conversation was minimal on the rest of the walk, mostly consisting of Karkat asking a few questions about where they were going and what the plan was, with either Sollux or Eridan answering. They'd stopped holding hands, though they were still walking close together, hands or arms occasionally brushing. Karkat referring to them as boyfriends was still lingering in Sollux's mind, and he wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad thing.

As they walked up the driveway to the house, all three of them were dead silent. It felt like it would be wrong to speak, like chatting during a funeral. And really, it kind of was a funeral, if an unusual one.

The body was in what appeared to be a comfy sitting room, sat on a couch. The smell of rot, along with other things Sollux didn't much want to think about, permeated the room, making it impossible to forget that there was a corpse there. He tried not to breathe in the mingling smells of sickness and death, chewing anxiously at his lip.

"I'll take care of it. You guys don't have to help," Eridan said, walking over to his father and closing his eyes, making sure he was really dead.

"God, you really are stupid," Karkat scoffed. "You can't dig a grave and bury him all by yourself just because it's your duty or some other, equally pretentious bullshit. I'm helping."

Eridan didn't respond, just striding down the hall, presumably in search of something he'd need for this.

"He's really dramatic sometimes," Sollux admitted once Eridan was out of earshot. "You get used to it."

"I doubt you're any better," Karkat said as both of them followed Eridan to the garage, where he was comparing a couple of different shovels.

Karkat grabbed one of the shovels and waited for Eridan to take the other, while Sollux found a couple pairs of old gardening gloves. The idea of using gardening gloves while digging a grave was almost laughable, but he knew they'd need some sort of gloves.

Next was finding a good location. It took awhile, but Eridan picked a spot in the shade of some trees in the backyard. He and Karkat started digging, Sollux wishing he could do something more helpful than standing around.

Eventually, they settled into a pattern of two digging and one resting to take over for whoever got tired and needed a break first, and repeating that cycle until they had a large enough hole.

"I guess I'll need help carrying him out here," Eridan muttered, going back inside the house. Once Sollux got to the living room to join him, Eridan was carefully wrapping his father's body in a sheet, likely both for ease of carrying and to try and partially make up for the lack of a coffin.

Once it was drawing closer to sunset, everything was done, including a valiant effort at a hand-carved gravestone that neither Sollux nor Karkat could bear to mention the ugliness of. It was sweet that Eridan had tried.

Dinner consisted of MREs that'd been stored in the basement, and they actually sat around the dining room table, not saying much of anything while they ate.

"We can sleep in the study," Eridan announced, the first time he'd spoken in a few hours. "It's nice and tucked away, but not as easy to get trapped in as somewhere upstairs."

"Works for me. It's probably more comfortable than the floor at school," Sollux said. "I'm assuming you have plenty of pillows and blankets and shit we can use."

"I haven't slept in a couple of days, so I really couldn't care less how comfortable it is, as long as I can actually sink into blissful unconsciousness," Karkat chimed in, getting up from the table. "And as long as I won't be forced to listen to you two fucking across the room from me."

"Uh, we aren't-" Sollux and Eridan said it in unison, glancing at each other.

"Mhm, sure. You just act like a couple for the hell of it."

"Are you planning on accusing us of trying to seduce you the moment we get comfortable around you too? You're reading way too much into this." He was actually pretty accurate in his assessment, but Sollux was determined to deny it until he could figure out what Eridan thought of the idea.

The answer to that was pretty damn comfortable, judging by Eridan's next comment.

"Maybe we should seduce him, Sol. Living through the apocalypse deserves some kind of reward. What's better than _two_ hot boyfriends?" The smirk on Eridan's face was unmistakably devious, and it seemed like he was actually considering the idea. Sollux could work with that.

"I'd say three, but that'd throw off my whole duality thing. So I'm gonna have to go with nothing."

Karkat didn't respond as he scooped up all the plates from the table and dumped them in the sink, but his face was bright red. Not as much of a stoic grump as Sollux thought, if he blushed at the two of them joking around like that.

"Mhm, that's what I thought," Eridan said faux-thoughtfully. "Now we just need to make our dream come true." As he and Sollux left the dining room as well, he grabbed Sollux's arm gently, tugging him into a kiss. "We gotta be the most badass power trio on Earth though, or no deal."

"How could we possibly be anything else?" Sollux managed to say, the words feeling clunky and awkward as they came out of his mouth. Eridan kissed him. Eridan just kissed him, in front of Karkat no less, and had made it feel like the most natural thing in the world.

"As much as I'd love to gloat about how I was right about you two being a thing, I'd love to get some pillows and blankets together and actually lay down even more," Karkat cut in, something that seemed to already be turning into a trend.

Eridan glared at him, but turned to lead the way to a well-stocked linen closet they could take bedding from. It didn't take long to set up a cozy sleeping area in the study, but it was all done in awkward, uncertain silence. Something had begun to change, but none of them knew what to do about it.

"So, uh, KK, what's your story?" Sollux asked once they were all sitting on the thick comforters they'd laid out. He had to break the silence somehow, and it was important to know more about Karkat anyway.

"My story?" Karkat rolled his eyes, leaning back against the wall. "Well, I assume you only care about the shit since the virus broke out, right? I lived with my dad and my brother in a shitty apartment building, but we had food and everything. We would've been fine. But my dumbass father decided he needed to help the less fortunate. Playing nurse to the victims. He got sick within a week of starting that, and gave it to my brother pretty quickly after. I gave them tea laced with Vicodin. It's, uh, what I would've wanted, you know?" His voice cracked on the last word, and he wiped at his eyes.

Sollux nodded, once again not sure what to say, just like when he'd been talking to Eridan about his dad. He didn't have some sob story about infected relatives, so he didn't know how the people who did wanted him to react. His family had gotten stuck out of town, and he'd just never seen them again. That was it. No closure, no tough decisions.

Eridan still hadn't said much of anything. With the exception of that boyfriend quip and kiss, he'd been uncharacteristically quiet all day. He'd curled up under a blanket with his eyes closed, but was clearly still awake. Sollux reached over, taking his hand. Eridan squeezed it back, but stayed silent. Karkat was just looking at them, and Sollux could practically see him thinking.

"If you guys were serious about all that before...I don't think I'd mind," Karkat finally said. "I mean, I have to admit you're pretty hot for people who probably haven't had a decent shower or clean clothes in God knows how long."

"You're not so bad yourself," Sollux murmured with a smirk, and Eridan offered up a tired sound that was probably meant as agreement.

They settled down for the night shortly after, Sollux and Eridan wrapped up in each other's arms as had become customary, and Karkat a short distance away. For now, they were at peace, oblivious to the creaking sounds of the ceiling above them.


End file.
